Robert, just out of curiosity, where are you going to be staying when you visit? At one of the three "Express Pass" hotels, or Cabana Bay? Or somewhere offsite? Don't worry, I'm not a stalker. Really, I'm not... I'm... oh wait... It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again... put the *bleeping* lotion in the basket!

Jungle Skip, a Parkscope & Universal Orlando Insider, today said that he "had spoken to some owls who have ridden the Hogwarts Express. Words used to describe the experience are "flawless" and "one of the greatest theme park experiences ever designed from queue to exit".'.....I'll be at Portofino, Universal on Saturday till Memorial day weekend. I guess I'll be too early for softs but maybe we'll get lucky and they'll take the London walls down. I'll have to wait till our September vacation to see what will arguably be the greatest theme park land ever constructed.

On the phone with USF right now (literally).... Booking July 29th through August 1st.

The operator just told me the same date as Robert posted in the thread for the opening date of Diagon Alley....

Edit - I just hung up and the trip is booked. He said something very interesting while we were jabbering about the parks. He said "Enjoy T2 and Twister as much as you can during your stay". I asked him to elaborate, but he realized all calls are recorded and backtracked a bit.

Lastly, we are staying the same amount of time as last year, in the same hotel, yet the total is $800 cheaper than 2013. I confirmed everything twice to make sure there was not an error and will receive my email in a couple of minutes.

I had a feeling that Twister's time was probably up soon along with T2 and Fear Factor and two of them were more or less confirmed.

I am excited to hear your reports from Diagon Alley, Robert.

My confirmation email from Universal arrived and I verified the hotel stay and tickets to all be correct. We somehow came out way ahead of last year.

97.101.110.226

Published: May 14, 2014 at 4:30 PM

Living 15 minutes away from both Universal and Disney has it's perks. Thanks for the heads up and I'll be sure to be one of the first ones there when it opens up. I'll try to get you guys some pictures.

Jonathan, I think the chances of soft openings the week leading up to the 17th are quite good, actually. Follow the hashtag #Potterwatch on Twitter, as many of us will be posting when soft opens happen, using that tag.

Any idea if Universal will give the annual passholders a preview event? I've been a passholder for many years and hope they will throw us a bone for this grand new land.

90.210.170.218

Published: May 15, 2014 at 10:07 AM

Hi folks. I am going to Florida for 2 weeks on the 14th of June. Would you guys recommend trying to go to the park before the 17th and hope for a soft opening or wait until after the official opening. Trying not to get too caught up in the crazy long queues that happened when hogsmeade opened. Thanks in advance for the advice. Can't wait to go, looks awesome.

So I'm planning on going to Disney/Universal from July 20-26. I'm mainly wanting to go to see Diagon Alley. However, every time I talk to the people at Universal, they refuse to tell me if Diagon Alley will be open by then. This is pretty frustrating because there's discounts right now that I'd like to take advantage of, but I've been worried since they won't confirm anything on the phone. It sounds like, from here, it should be open by then, correct? I don't need a 100% guarantee or anything. I just want to make sure that in all likelihood it'll be open by then....